March 2013
1 post
Nuggets on video →
January 2013
2 posts
3 tags
On Performer Over-Utilization
There are still too many project organizations that put emphasis on keeping everyone busy, due to the erroneous assumption that “an idle resource is a major waste.”
Someone on one of the discussion groups I participate in recently suggested one way to get managers to think about the error of these ways…
Ask “If your people are 90% utilized, how long would it take...
1 tag
Voicemail Transcription FAIL
One of my best sources of laughs recently has been Comcast’s phone feature in which they [try to] do a voice-to-text transcription of incoming voicemail and forward it to my email.
Here’s one from the Golden Corner Diner, letting us know that they’ve got a batch of Galaktoboureko (greek pastry) available.
“Hi this is Amy from the going(?) the corner diner. I’m...
December 2012
7 posts
1 tag
We're Puny, Insignificant, and Doomed – and That's... →
From the linked piece…
If all we have is one another, our brief life spans, and the things we’re able to discover and create, then we’ve got the power and responsibility to make our lives meaningful.
Sounds like fodder for New Years resolutions.
2 tags
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Roll Up! Magical Mystery Tour
Watched restored 1967 Magical Mystery Tour on PBS’ Great Performances. Never saw it before, despite knowing the album well. (Fool on the Hill and I Am the Walrus among my favorite Beatles tunes and instrumental Flying among my very favorites.)
Surreal.
The “Flying” sequence, heavily color-filtered and solarized, reminded me of a simpler version of trippier effects of the next...
Letters of Note: I love June Carter, I do →
lettersofnote:
On March 1st of 1968, Johnny Cash married June Carter. They remained together until her death 35 years later. Below are two notes, both written by Cash — the first to June in 1994 on the occasion of her 65th birthday, and the second shortly after her death in 2003. Johnny Cash passed…
Reblogged - nothing to add.
November 2012
2 posts
Haiku (this morning)
a steel-grey morning
brightened by a scarlet flash.
cardinal in flight.
October 2012
2 posts
Rands In Repose: The Elegant Email →
Autumn Haiku
not burning but still crackling, dry autumn leaves scrape across the asphalt
July 2012
2 posts
Nick Drake? →
This is the first time in a long time I’ve been sent to a piece of writing that wasn’t within the targets of my usual web-trawling and that grabbed me the way this did. The thing that drove me nuts is with all its name-dropping from the music of my youth, it’s only this piece and recent references on NPR’s All Songs Considered that has brought Nick Drake into my...
June 2012
2 posts
May 2012
3 posts
2 tags
chartsnthings →
A (personal) blog of data sketches from the New York Times Graphics Department. Maintained by @KevinQ.
Examples of processes used to “visualize data”.
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In Defense of Corporations →
Corporations are people. Yeah, they really are. But not in the way someone else once meant it.
April 2012
11 posts
2 tags
The Future of Focus Groups: My Brain Knows What... →
Not me…my brain.
First free will disappears as we learn more about the bran, now self-reported opinions are called into question as we learn to use what we know about the brain.
Plug me in.
3 tags
Content Strategy - Both Strategic and Tactical →
Whether managing living social media, or keeping sites fresh with blog-like efforts to engage, or even producing simple brochureware that’s expected to serve users’ information needs with minimal updates, it’s the content that lies at the core of success. The same way design (the role of which is to make one care about content) follows information architecture, information...
1 tag
11 Combinations You Can Make from the Coca-Cola... →
This one sounds good to me…
Super Cherry Coke: Cherry Coke Zero plus Cherry Sprite Zero adds a further cherry hit to the soda, for those who like that sort of thing.
“Past a certain age, the content of a life is at least as important as its...”
– Charlie Rose: Hitchens tribute « Why Evolution Is True
“In science, “fact” can only mean “confirmed to such a degree that it would be...”
– Stephen Jay Gould
(via scienceisbeauty)
Americans Deserve a Presidential Science Debate →
realcleverscience:
Numerous candidates have developed a pattern of embracing various antiscience positions from the denial of climate change to the assertion that stem cell research is “killing children,” in order to create controversy and reinvigorate sagging poll numbers. This is presumably based on the candidates’ belief that evangelical voters are antiscience.
This sort of brinksmanship...
3 tags
Mobile Link: Mobile First! →
Still a good case for “mobile first”, a year after the idea first got traction.
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Learning about Lean: The Orbits of PDCA →
An almost poetic observation on the cycle of improvement.
3 tags
March 2012
6 posts
The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time →
From the link:
Multitasking in the business context means working on multiple tasks “at once.” Or as we know, having a big pile of work and being forced to SWITCH between them without ever getting them done. Throw on top of it the problem of interruptions and too-many-meetings, and you get a great ball of nothing-gets-done.
1 tag
Spring, 2012
White pink yellow blooms.
Pale green pollen dusts my car.
Colors spring to life.
3 tags
1 tag
“I don’t have a problem with you making mistakes. Just try to make new...”
– overheard
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Innovation Is About Arguing, Not Brainstorming. →
2. SAY “NO, BECAUSE” It’s widely evangelized that successful brainstorms rely on acceptance of all ideas and judgment of none. Many refer to the cardinal rule of improv saying “Yes, AND”—for building on others’ ideas. As a former actor, I’m a major proponent of “Yes AND.”
But I’m also a fan of “no, BECAUSE.” No is a critical part of our process, but if you’re going to say no, you better...
October 2011
1 post
1 tag
On Reporting Project Task Progress →
Percent complete is meaningless.
September 2011
3 posts
1 tag
“We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that...”
– Stephen J. Gould, interview, Life (December 1988).
Actually, why we’re here is to take care of each other. There’s no one else to do it.
1 tag
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“Really I don’t know anything other than Jersey. I like the dirtiness of it. Now...”
– Frank Iero (via everything-frank-iero)
August 2011
5 posts
1 tag
Why Share? →
A great summary of why we socially share, beyond the obvious keeping in touch with people who have passed through your life.
1 tag
How will Google Plus will end up fitting in my web... →
Why there’s been a slacking of content here in my Tumblr blog.
2 tags
A Great Educational Program →
Hey folks - if your kids are between 5th grade and 12th, pass this along to their teachers. I used to be involved in running this program and it’s truly a great experience that will take your kids around the world (virtually). [Would it be inappropriate for me to hope that a lot of people share this?]
1 tag
Marketing Link: The Digital Marketer's Checklist →
A discussion of the things that should be taken into account in designing a digital marketing effort… What is the objective of the campaign?
What digital measures align with the objective?
What efforts outside of digital can we align with?
What role should innovation play in this effort?
How can we be smarter in this effort versus previous efforts?
Go read the whole thing…The...
3 tags
PM Link: A Daily Project Execution Plan →
The piece I’ve linked to today offers up a framework for focusing project communications on immediate tasks at hand. The author - Atul Gaur - thinks of it as a “daily execution plan”, but it bears very close resemblence to what I like to do on a weekly basis. The nature of the big single-project work domain that he works in probably makes daily worthwhile, but in the...
July 2011
43 posts
3 tags
4 tags
“The emergence of “Christian” terrorism in Europe does absolutely nothing to...”
– The Blog : Christian Terrorism and Islamophobia : Sam Harris
Commenting on the recent events in Norway.
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PM Link: The Client's Responsibility for Project... →
I’ve been known to suggest that the toughest resources to manage in a project are your boss and the project’s client. This link offers some thoughts about what it takes to maximize the latter’s contribution.
Bottom line…if you’re a project client, try to help the project team help you accomplish what you’re looking for from the project.
